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The mobile payments space has been touted as the next big thing for some time now. For almost as long as the mobile device revolution, industry watchers have predicted that the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices signaled the end of the traditional wallet -- that, soon, cash and credit cards would give way to a new technology embedded into our mobile phones.

So far, it hasn’t happened.

Most people continue to pay for things using traditional credit cards and cash. But don’t get me wrong, the mobile payment revolution is coming -- it’s only a question of when. Here are three recent trends that are set to help accelerate the pace of innovation in this space:

vodafone_de, Flickr

1. Make mobile payments a feature of a larger platform.

How it works: Currently, some of the biggest players in the tech industry are working on their own homegrown payment solutions. All of these solutions could be lumped together under the label [Tech Giant] Pay.

While these solutions have a lot in common, they aren’t one-to-one copies of each other. Broadly, they rely on near field communication (NFC), tokenization, fingerprint readers and a mix of other technologies to provide a seamless option for users.

Why they’re doing it:What ties all of these competing services together is the strategy behind them. They’re all designed to integrate with the platforms of their respective companies -- Pay with iOS (and the Apple Watch), Android Pay for Android, and Samsung Pay for its Galaxy line of mobile devices.

Beyond that, it appears that the purpose of these services isn’t necessarily to become a leader in the payment space, but rather to support the continued growth of the larger platform and vision.